In 1939 Charles Eames was invited to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art by Eliel Saarinen, who had seen and admired one of the two churches Charles designed in Arkansas. It was at Cranbrook that Charles met Ray Kaiser, and their lifelong partnership began.

We have this photograph of Charles Eames with Cranbrook's founder, GEORGE BOOTH, courtesy of collector Peter A. Ramirez, Miami, FL.

Cranbrook Academy of Art, known as the cradle of American modernism, continues to have a significant impact on the world of art, architecture, and design completely disproportionate to its size. Outstanding artists, architects and designers – the Saarinens, Ray and Charles Eames, Florence Knoll, Jack Lenor Larsen, Donald Lipski, Duane Hanson and Hani Rashid, to name only a few - have been a part of Cranbrook’s community of artists. Lasting friendships formed at the Academy lead to future professional collaboration. Our alumni have an international influence through their individual artistic practices and teaching professions.

Cranbrook Academy of Art is part of the 315-acre Cranbrook Educational Community, described as “one of the most enchanted architectural settings in America.” The community was founded by George Gough Booth, a Detroit newspaper baron and philanthropist, and Eliel Saarinen, the Finnish architect who occupies a major position in the history of modern American design and architecture. Both were inspired by the vision of the Arts and Crafts movement, which began in England in the mid-nineteenth century and soon spread to the United States. The Arts and Crafts movement appealed to George Booth aesthetically and morally. He hoped its influence would banish tasteless, mass-produced goods from American homes. He believed that craftsmanship would result in superior products and provide the foundation for an ethically responsible life. Cranbrook would come to support those ideals and satisfy the desire of its founders to achieve something of lasting value and significance.

In 1904, George Gough and Ellen Scripps Booth bought the property that would become Cranbrook, and spent their first years at Cranbrook landscaping the property and constructing their family home designed by Albert Kahn. With their estate established, they began the buildings for public use. The Greek Theatre was built in 1915, Christ Church Cranbrook was completed in 1928, plans for boys and girls schools were begun and foremost in their minds, plans were made for an art academy based on their visit to the American Academy in Rome. At the suggestion of his son Henry, George Booth approached Eliel Saarinen, a visiting professor in architectural design at the University of Michigan, with his idea for an art academy. Ultimately Booth invited Saarinen to move to Cranbrook from Finland to oversee the architectural and landscape development of the campus. The Cranbrook School for Boys was completed in 1928, Brookside School Cranbrook in 1929, and Kingswood School (for girls) in 1931.

Informal art education began at the Academy in the late 1920s, in studios built for the artists and crafts people working with Saarinen. The Academy of Art was officially sanctioned in 1932 with Saarinen installed as president. He continued to design new buildings for the campus with Academy student apprentices. The original Cranbrook Institute of Science building was completed in 1937 and the Academy art museum and library in 1942. The campus is a National Historic Landmark, considered the most complete example of Saarinen’s genius. It is an architectural and horticultural treasure where Academy students live and work today, inspired to write their own history in an environment of beauty and innovation.

Recent additions to the Cranbrook Educational Community campus uphold the international standard of excellence set by Saarinen. Spanish architect Rafael Moneo designed the New Studios Building addition to the Academy and Art Museum that opened in Fall 2002. Other new buildings at Cranbrook built in the 1990s include the Stephen Holl designed addition to Cranbrook Institute of Science, the Todd Williams and Billie Tsien designed Natatorium at Cranbrook School, and the Peter Rose designed addition to Brookside School.

Source: Cranbrook Academy of Art

The Cranbrook Educational Community, a National Historic Landmark, in the US state of Michigan was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. Cranbrook campus is in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills consisting of Cranbrook Schools, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Cranbrook Institute of Science and Cranbrook House and Gardens. The founders built Christ Church Cranbrook as a focal point in order to serve the educational complex, though the church is a separate entity under the Episcopalian Diocese of Michigan. The sprawling, 319 acre (129 hectare) campus began as a 174 acre (70 ha) farm, purchased in 1904. The organization takes its name from Cranbrook, England, the birthplace of the founder's father.

Cranbrook is renowned for its architecture in the Arts and Crafts Movement style. The chief architects were Albert Kahn and Eliel Saarinen. Renowned sculptors Carl Milles and Marshall Fredericks also spent many years in residence at Cranbrook.

Cranbrook Academy of Art, one of the nation's leading graduate schools of architecture, art and design, was founded by the Booths in 1932. By 1984, the New York Times would say that "the effect of Cranbrook and its graduates and faculty on the physical environment of this country has been profound ... Cranbrook, surely more than any other institution, has a right to think of itself as synonymous with contemporary American design."

The buildings were designed and the school first headed by Eliel Saarinen, who integrated design practices and theories from the arts and crafts movement through the international style. The school continues to be known for its apprenticeship method of teaching, in which a small group of students, usually only 10 to 16 per class (150 students for the total of ten departments), study under a single artist-in-residence for the duration of their curriculum. The graduate program is unusual because there are no "courses": all learning is self-directed under the guidance and supervision of the respective artist-in-residence.

Famous alumni of the Art Academy include Marc Awodey, Ed Bacon, Harry Bertoia, Peter Bohlin, Chunghi Choo, Richard DeVore, Niels Diffrient, Charles Eames, Ray Eames, Ed Fella, Paul Granlund, Leza McVey, Frederic James, Jeffery Keedy, Florence Knoll (did not graduate), Walter Hamady, Duane Hanson, Jack Lenor Larsen, P. Scott Makela and Laurie Haycock Makela, Fumihiko Maki, Fred Mitchell, Gyo Obata, Ralph Rapson, Bernard Rosenthal, Eero Saarinen, Joseph Allen Stein, Toshiko Takaezu, Lycia Trouton, Harry Weese (City Planning fellowship, 1938–39), Lorraine Wild, Anne Wilson, and Daniel Libeskind (Architect-in-Residence, Department of Architecture 1978–1995).

In 1932, renowned sculptor Marshall Fredericks was invited by Milles to join the staffs of the academy and schools, teaching there until he enlisted in the armed forces in 1942. In 1987, Keith Haring served as artist-in-residence here.

Source: Wikipedia